The Extraordinary Tale of…

How an unknown teenager lied his way to become Europe’s hottest celebrity...

1828 THE STRANGE APPEARANCE OF KASPAR HAUSER

Kaspar Hauser’s mysterious life and death

Kaspar Hauser first appeared on 26 May 1828. The bewildered and anxious teenager was seen staggering the streets of Nuremberg, Germany, wearing ragged clothes and grasping an envelope in his hand. Attempts by the authorities to get details from him only raised questions, as the boy said and comprehended little, although he did identify himself as Kaspar Hauser.

The envelope, containing two letters, was also unhelpful. The first was unsigned but purportedly written by a farm labourer who raised the boy ever since his mother had left him as an infant. It was addressed to the captain of a local cavalry regiment - Hauser, the missive claimed, wanted to be a cavalryman “as his father was”. The second letter was from the boy’s mother. Apparently, she left the note with the labourer, as it was dated 1812. It gave Hauser’s birth as 30 April of that year and named his father as a cavalryman, now dead.